Mix of My Creation
by kaila2k
Summary: Life at Hogwarts. Maybe not what you would expect. Things change. So do people. You never know what will happen, who will fall for who, or who will just fall. Harry/Hermione Ginny/Draco Ron/Luna Lovegood.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own any of these characters. Well maybe a few. But that's besides the point. Most of these characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I take no credit for them what-so-ever. So please enjoy (and don't sue).

Ginny's POV

"Hello?" I called out. I was sure I had heard something move. I know it can't be Harry. He stopped following me a long time ago, after that failed first date last year. I shook my head. I didn't want to think about that night ever again.

'Oh well' I thought. I turned around to head into the great hall. I was late enough as it was. Had a bit too long of a shower after quidditch practice. Right as I was opening the door I heard the sound again.

"Hello?" I called out again. A couple more quiet footsteps sounded in the otherwise silent hallway. Draco Malfoy sauntered slowly around the corner, looking laid back and uncaring as usual. His smirk was plastered onto his pale face.

"Waiting for me Weasley?" he said as he gave her a cruel smile. Oh he mad her so mad. She made a sound deep in her throat, like a subdued growl. She spun on her heels and marched into the great hall. She headed straight past the Slytherin table and flopped down in between Ron and Harry.

Ron cast her a worried glance. "You alright Gin?"

"Don't talk to me." she whispered in an enraged tone.

"Geez Ginny calm down a bit." was his immediate response. He turned the other way and started talking to a girl named Patty. Harry looked at her with a questioning look.

"Malfoy" was all I said. He nodded and continued to wolf down his Sheppard's pie. That is until Hermoine showed up. He then blushed slightly and stopped eating quite as fast.

As she was walking across the room I leaned over and whispered, "Might want to wipe the peas off your face before she gets here." His face went scarlet, and he madly wiped his face on a napkin.

"Well that's a bit better..." She trailed off. Harry wasn't paying attention anyway.

Harry's POV

Blimey she was gorgeous. Her long legs sliding gracefully across the floor, he skirt swishing back and forth when she moved. Her sweater accenting her curves, just right. Not that there could ever be a wrong with her. He watched her shove some of her curly, slightly bushy, hair out of her face, only to have it fall back into place. She caught his gaze and smiled at him. He felt his face redden and looked away.

She dropped a pile of books on the table, making a loud thud. Ron looked away from Patty. Hey Mione, why are you so late?"

"I got caught up reading a book in the library." Hermoine reached across the table as she was talking and flicked a pea off of Harry's hand.

I looked at Ginny for a moment, wondering why she didn't mention it. She rolled her eyes, and I knew that she probably told me and I just wasn't listening. Oh well.

Hermione's foot bumps mine under the table.

"Oh. Sorry" I say.

"It's ok, I don't mind." she said with the slightest tilt to her voice. My eyebrows raise a tiny bit in question. She taps her fingers on the table in answer. Not the most helpful of answers, but an answer none-the-less. She keeps tapping her fingers on the table all of supper. I couldn't seem to focus on anything else.

Draco's POV

Late in, late out, I kept telling himself as I left dinner quite later then I usually did. That run in with the Weasley girl messed up my schedule. Especially now that I couldn't get my mind off of it.

"Ugh" I mumbled to myself, as I walked back to the Slytherin common room. That growl sound she made, it drove me out of my mind for a couple of seconds. It just made me want to grab her and pull her to me.

"It's just the growl." I murmured. "Anyone could have done that." I kept murmuring to myself. No one was around, I wasn't paying attention, just whispering to myself as I walked through the dungeons.

I hurried around the corner, almost to the common room, and ran right into someone. We both landed on the floor. I looked up and found that it was Ginny Weasley.

"Sorry" she said. I ignored it and moved on.

"Why are you down in the dungeons anyway Weasley?" I sneered.

"Peeves was at it again. Flooded bathroom, everyone had to go around. This was the quickest route." She added with a tiny smirk of her own, "Don't think I cam down here for you Malfoy. That we be a bit too cocky. Even for you." Then she grabbed her bag and was off down the hall in a flash.

I shook my head and walked off in the opposite direction. That girl was a fire storm, always going off on people. She even had the red hair to match. I got up and continued on my way to the common room.

When I got inside I see Charlotte MacMillan, a tiny third year who was consistently scaring everyone, almost growl at a girl who touched her homework. It was a nasty sound. It definitely wasn't just the growl.

Ron's POV

I was madly scribbling down some of Hermione's homework while she was focusing on a game of chess with Fred and George. Suddenly Hermione yelled out and spun in a circle, exclaiming

"I won! I won!" until she saw Ron copying her homework "What are you doing?!" I stood up and rolled up my parchment.

"Nothing right at this moment." I said as I scurried up to the boys rooms, hopefully she wouldn't follow me. I came back down a while later, and tried to sneak past Hermione. Rather unsuccessfully, she saw me and tried to follow, but I was out the door and headed for the stairs before she could catch up.

I have to find somewhere quiet to go. Somewhere she wouldn't expect me to go, otherwise I would get yelled at. Maybe one of the secrets tunnels, or empty classrooms. I wandered around the hallways, and ended up slightly lost. I thought I was on the first floor, but I just past a staircase, maybe I was on the second floor instead. I wandered around a bit more, and now I was quite turned 'round.

"Are you lost?" a little voice called out from somewhere to his right. I turned around to look at her, but I couldn't see where her voice came from. Who was it? I wondered.

"Everyone is always a little lost sometimes." the feminine voice said. "Even when it doesn't seem like it." A short, slim, young lady came out from behind a statue.

"Luna?" I asked. Luna Lovegood, the slightly crazy Ravenclaw girl, tilted her head to the side like she didn't hear. I repeated myself.

"I heard you the first time. You don't need to repeat yourself."

"Then why didn't you answer?"

"I felt as if the answer was to obvious. It was brought along with the wind, it didn't need to be said by me." I scrunched my eyebrows together trying to understand. "You have no idea where you are." she continued. She didn't even seem to be asking a question.

"Do you know where we are?" I asked.

"The second floor. Six corridors to left, three to the right, and twelve steps down. Do you know where we are now?" She looked straight into his eyes as she said this.

"By the kitchen?" I asked. Her directions didn't help me one bit.

"Not in the slightest. Follow me." she said over her shoulder. I scurried to catch up. I was not getting lost again.

"Blimey, curfew is in just a few minutes!" I said as I checked my watch. Luna glanced back, tilted her head, and kept walking. We made many turns, and once had to avoid Filch and his cat. Then Luna stopped short. I ran right into her, and we tumbled down the stairs she had stopped in front of.

"That was fun" she said once we had hit the bottom. We untangled ourselves and stood up. She gave me a wide eyed look and a small wave, then walked off towards her common room.

I watched her walk away until I heard footsteps coming from the other direction, then I ran up the stairs as fast as I could. I only stopped when I was inside the Gryffindor common room.

I leaned against the wall and breathed heavily for several moments. When I finally came 'round the corner, there were very few people in the room. A few girls were talking to Harry as he gathered up some parchment and books that were scattered across a table. I walked towards them, and Harry handed off the books and parchment to the girls before he turned to me.

"Hey. Where have you been?" he asked. Not in the condescending tone Hermione uses, just Harry's usual voice.

"Around. Got a bit lost." he shook his head at that.

"We've been here for six years and you _still_ get lost." he said, half through his laughter. I shook my head at him.

"I'm going to bed before you fall down." I said as I walked to our dorm. The sound of his laughter carried in my wake.

Hermione's POV

I woke up and stretched, expecting to still be sitting in my chair. Realizing that I was in my bed, I got rather flustered and fell out of my bed. Rather ungracefully.

"Oh Hermione! Your awake!" Julia said as she rushed up to me. I heard choruses of similar remarks, but Julia's was the loudest.

"How did I get here?" was the first question out of my mouth. I knew that Julia was going to start talking in a matter of seconds, and that just wouldn't do.

"Oh he was so sweet. He gathered up all of your homework, and then carried you upstairs too. It was so sweet, and caring, and wonderful..." she just kept going. It was pointless to cut her off now. I'll ask Ginny at breakfast I thought.

"Julia. Julia!" I said quite loudly. She stared at me. "I am going to go take a shower. You can kept me up later. Alright?" I said as I backed slowly towards the washroom. She nodded then went on gossiping with the other girls. Biggest gossip in our grade that one.

I took a fast shower, wondering who would have carried me up to my bed. When that was done I got dressed, did my hair, and grabbed my books before Julia finally caught up to me.

"So he asked us to get all your books, which is a lot by the way," she picked up right where she left off. "And we got all of your homework too, then he just picked you up asked us too get the door for you two." She took a small breath than continued (a rare event for her) "Then he tucked you into bed, brushed your hair out of your face, drew your curtains, an-" I cut her off.

"Who is he?!" I asked, rather rattled at this point.

"Well Harry of course." she looked startled that I didn't already know that.

"Julia I am going to breakfast." I said and hurried down the stairs. I almost ran the whole way there. I didn't want to hear any more gossip from Julia McBrewin. I wanted the facts. And that I would have to talk to the one person who knew what had happened. I sighed. How do I always manage to embarrass my self somehow when I was with Harry. Even though we had been best friends for years. I was lost in thought until I plunked down at the Gryffindor table.

"Sleep well?" Ginny asked. She was wearing that grin that said she knew something. My face flushed a little upon seeing that.

"Fine, thank you." I looked down. When I glanced back at her, she waggled her eyebrows at me. I sighed.

"Does everyone know?" I asked.

"Julia knows. So, yeah, pretty much everybody." I sighed again. Julia was going to have to shut her bug mouth one day, sooner or later. Oh how I hope it was sooner.

"So" Ginny continued, "Do you remember anything? Or are you just a blank?" I shook my head.

"Not a thing."

"Oh darn. I wanted to hear it from you. Maybe I will just have to ask Harry." she said as she looked around and started to stand up.

"Oh don't you dare!" I said and pulled her back to her seat. She started laughing, then laughing harder, until she was laughing hysterically. I was staring at her until suddenly, Harry plopped down across from her.

"What's so funny?" he asked. That sobered Ginny up some. She looked at me and I looked at her. There was a silent conversation between us that ended very quickly. Harry kept glancing between us.

Ginny and I said simultaneously "Nothing." and put our heads down to our breakfasts. Harry stared at us for a while, then settled down to his eggs and toast. I looked at Ginny, she glanced at me, and we both couldn't help ourselves. We both burst into hysterical laughter. Nothing could stop it.

By the end of breakfast, half the school was watching us. We only calmed down when we had to go our separate ways in the hallway. I rushed to my Herbology class. Maybe I could get there before Harry I wondered. Until he fell into step beside me.

"Somewhere to be Hermione?" he asked.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two**_

Ginny's POV

After all the laughter at breakfast, all my classes seemed boring. Even my favourite class, transfiguration. By the last class of the day, I was terribly bored. Luckily it was magical medicine, which never fails to be interesting. Early in the class, a potion exploded in the dungeons, causing the whole class to be sent to the medical wing. The whole magical medicine class was bustling around, helping with whatever they could. It got so hectic, that Madam Pomfrey finally had to put her foot down.

"Enough! Each student of my class will be assigned to a specific person of the other class. Line up!" She yelled. Everyone got into a waving line. Madam Pomfrey just walked though the room pointing to a bed and shouting a name. Then she bustled back to Blaise Zabini, a Slytherin, who had been in the potions room and had come down with boils and infections, just like the rest of them.

I hurried towards a bed at the back of the room. The bed I had been assigned to. I walked around the corner of the curtain, starting to say 'How can I help you?' but the words died on my lips. Of all the people.

"Afternoon Weasley" Draco said, seeming to know that now was not the time to piss me off.

"Malfoy." I looked him up and down. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with him. Although gods he was gorgeous, at least when he wasn't sneering at everyone. His pale looks were quite stunning. I shook my head, realizing I had been staring.

"See something you like Weasley?" his sneer was back.

"Wondering why you're here. You don't seem to be injured." I answered, trying to keep my mind in a perfect balance. Not angry and sneering, not in the gutter either. It really wasn't working that well.

"Precautionary actions. I was no where near the exploding potion." I raised my eyebrows at that.

"Then where were you?"

"Not that it's any of your business _Weasley, _but I was under the table, retrieving an ingredient." His said my name like a snark and I couldn't help but bite back. Wonderful way of hiding hurt.

"What was the ingredient? Pansy Parkinson's tongue?" I shot at him. He glared at me, I glared back. I looked back out at the other students. Maybe I can switch with Amy. That wouldn't be to terrible.

"Want to get rid of me already Weasley?" Draco shot in my direction. I must have been thinking out loud again.

"Not in the slightest." I pulled up a chair and sat down by the bed he was lazing on top of. "Do you need anything?" I sighed.

"Well interesting company would be nice." He sniped at me.

"Don't make one more rude comment or I will put Pansy's boils on you." I threatened. His eyes widened. "Do not test me on this one Draco."

"You called me Draco." he sounded surprised.

"That is your name isn't it?"

"You've never used my first name before."

"There's a first time for everything." he scoffed at that.

"Sure, _everything_." He sniped. I pulled out my wand and pointed it at Pansy across the way.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" he yelled at me. I turned and gave him my most evil smile. Then cast the spell.

Harry's POV

After potions I hurried back to the common room. I wanted to talk to Hermione before she could find some way to avoid me again. We hadn't talked since before Herbology. Maybe I had done something wrong. She just got flustered around me today.

All these thoughts ran through my mind as I rushed up the stairs and through the portrait door. I barely had the thought to yell,

"Quiffle" before barrelling straight through the door. I came in right as Hermione was heading up the stairs to the girl's dormitories. I rushed over to her.

"Hey Hermione. What's up?" after that giggling round this morning, I wasn't quite sure how to start the conversation.

"Oh, hello Harry. I was just going to go put some books away." she gave me a small smile and walked up the stairs. I sat down in a chair that faced the stairs, and was by the doors. Ginny came in a bit later.

"Oh! Ginny! Do you know what's going on with Hermione?" I asked.

"Oh, yes. Where is she?"

"In her dormitory."

"Ok. Thanks Harry." she said as she rushed up the stairs too.

"Wait! Ginny!" I called after her. No use, she didn't come back down. I had to sit and wait her out to. After a while Ginny came back downstairs. She tried to sneak past me to get to a couple of her friends by the window. How on earth could she think I would miss her bright red hair?

"Ginny" I pulled her aside "What is going on with Hermione? Is everything ok?"

"It's sweet that you care Harry, it really is, but I'm just not sure that you can help her right now. She is trying to process. And avoid Julia. But who doesn't do that?" She tried to get my mind off the subject. It didn't work.

"_Ginny._" I said more forcefully.

"_Harry._" she quipped right back. I stared at her. She glanced at me then turned back to her friends. I made a decision. I walked right up to Julia McBrewin, the biggest gossip in the school, and asked if I could go up to her dorm room. She raised her eyebrows a bit.

"Oh I need to talk to Hermione! And if you spread one word of this, you will start having problems!" I said probably a little more forcefully than I needed to.

"Go right up. Nobody is up there but her." I nodded and walked right up the stairs. I kept walking until I found the sign that said 'Sixth Years' then I knocked I walked inside. Hermione was saying something along the lines of 'Ginny I am perfectly fine, you can go talk to Natalie and your other friends now'.

"Hate to break it to you, but Natalie isn't really my friend." Hermione jerked up from her bed as I said that, dropping one of her books on the floor. She was so flustered that she didn't even pick it up.

"You aren't supposed to be in here Harry." she said as she slowly backed up.

"Sorry, but I needed to know if something was wrong. Is everything ok? Since that giggle fit at breakfast, you haven't been talking to me. You're making me worried." she backed herself into the bathroom as I slowly followed her.

"Harry you can't come in here." she said as I took a cautious step in to the girls washroom.

"Why not? Does it make you nervous? Because we have been in a bathroom together before, remember? Fighting a troll as first years." I don't know what had come over me.

"That was different Harry."

"How was that any different from right here, right now?" I had backed her against a wall. What had come over me? I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Harry..."

Draco's POV

Ugh. Madam Pomfrey had taken away the boils and blisters, but man that spell hit hard. I am going to get that girl back. No, no,no. That was the old way. Disowned by parents, no evil magic, no revenge. That was my new motto.

I was the only one left on the medical wing. Everyone else had been dismissed earlier, but that stupid girl had done her magic well. He had to stay overnight 'just in case' anything else happened. What else could possibly happen? Ginny Weasley had done a stupid charm, then acted like she didn't know a thing. What other random things could possibly happen today? Or rather, tonight as it was well past curfew.

An almost silent footstep drew him out of his thoughts. It couldn't be the Slytherins, they brought him his stuff ages ago. Who was it? I flopped back into my pillows, trying to act asleep, incase it was a teacher. The footsteps stopped at the end of his bed.

"Draco are you awake?" the voice whispered timidly. I recognized that voice.

"Ginny?" I said as I sat up.

"You've never used my first name before." she did an expert job at imitating me. She even had the smirk down too.

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be enjoying my hospital stay from the comforts of your common room?"

"I came to apologize for hexing you. I didn't mean to get that angry at the time." she said in a practiced monotone.

"Thank you for that _moving _apology."

"Oh sod off Malfoy. I came all the way down here to apologize to you, could you be a little more grateful!" she glared daggers at him. I sized her up quickly, seeing if I could beat her in a fight if need be. But then I realized, she was in her pyjamas. All she was wearing was crop top and a pair of- were those boxers? When I finally dragged my eyes back up to her freckled face, her cheeks were red and her eyebrows were raised.

"See something you like Malfoy?" she was copying him again. It was scary how easily she could turn into him. But this time her voice was softer, less harsh. I looked her up and down again, taking my time, seeing everything there was too see. She had curves underneath the baggy clothes she wore. She was athletic, had beautiful brown eyes, and the red hair. Especially the red hair.

"Hmmm. Possibilities, possibilities." I realized that I wasn't sneering when I said it. Great I was improving. Perfect! I accidentally said the last bit out loud and Ginny looked at me with this odd look on her face.

"So how long are you staying in here?" she asked, scanning him up and down. Maybe she was just looking for injuries, I chided myself.

"Hopefully just tonight. Why? Planning to sneak out to see more often?" I said as she positioned herself at the end of my bed.

"Only if I don't have anything better to do." she looked thoughtfully around the room, seeming like she was already looking for something better to do.

"Like what? Sleeping?" before she could answer a noise sounded from Madam Pomfrey's office. Ginny looked at me.

"Sorry again." She whispered to me, then hopped off my bed silently and hurried out of the hospital wing. I watched her go until Madam Pomfrey came out of her office. I laid back down on my pillows and tried to put the Weasley girl out of my mind.

Ron's POV

I still had bruises from falling down the stairs. But somehow Luna still bounced and skipped all the way to the Ravenclaw table. I sighed into my toast.

"What's wrong Ron?" Ginny asked when she sat down to breakfast.

"Nothing. Just thinking."

"I didn't know you could think." Ginny teased, acting surprised.

"Sod off Ginny."

"What did Ginny do?" Harry asked as he sat down

"Nothing." Ginny said at the same time I said "Everything." Harry laughed at us.

"Stupid git." I said in his general direction. That made Ginny smile too. Then Hermione sat down between Ginny and Natalie McDonald, who was on the quidditch team. They started into a round of girl talk, and I couldn't help but look at Luna.

"What are you looking at?" Harry asked, glancing around.

"Nothing!" I quickly tore my eyes off of Luna, laughing with her friends, and faced Harry. Harry was looking at the Ravenclaw table. Darn. I looked away a little to late.

"_Who _were you looking at?" he said as he scanned the Ravenclaw table. His gaze stopped by the end where Luna was sitting, and where I had been looking. He scanned the people by that end. His gaze finally stopping on Luna.

"LUNA?!" he said quite loudly, almost everyone around us looked up from the breakfasts.

"Shut up Harry!" I glanced around at the people who had looked up. We had even attracted some Hufflepuffs.

"So it is Luna?" he said much more quietly.

"Sod off Harry."

"Oh. I think I know what's got your wand in a twist."

"Sod OFF Harry."

"Hey Ginny! Guess what?" Harry called to the girls across the table, causing all three of them to look up from their conversation.

"Shut up Harry!"

"What's got your wand in a twist?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, this girl from Rav-" I cut Harry off.

"Nothing Ginny. None of your business."

"Oh but your my brother, so it is my business." she was using the same speech he used on her last year!

"Oh sod off Ginny!"

"Come on Ron! You have to tell us something now!" Hermione piped up.

"I don't have to tell you anything!"

"Oh come on Ron. Please!" Natalie batted her eyelashes at me.

"No! Sod off!" Harry was laughing at the argument as I stared at him.

"_Please!_" all three girls said at once. I shook my head and stood up. Their laughter followed him as he left the great hall.

"Is everything ok? There was yelling." Luna emerged from around a corner with her familiar head tilt.

"Everything's just fine." I could feel my face flush. She walked right up too me. Too close. She was tiny next to my hulking form. She kept walking until she was a pace from having her head in my chest.

"I don't think so." she said quietly.

Hermione's POV

I tried not to talk at breakfast. After last night I didn't know what to say. I closed my eyes and let the memories watch over me. Harry cornered me in the girls bathroom. Asking me all sorts of questions. Gods he made me nervous. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I couldn't stop myself in time. I moaned his name quietly. There was no one else in the room, and the sound echoed. Or maybe it was just in my head. I could feel his heart beating against mine. His breath met mine. He leaned his forehead on mine. I just had to answer his last question. It wasn't a want, it was a need

"Everything is different Harry." I whispered the last word "Everything." His breath came faster until he was almost panting. I couldn't hear anything but his heart beats and his breath. He slowly released me, almost reluctantly.

"So... everything's ok?" he asked quietly. I nodded and we hadn't talked since. This time he seemed to be the one avoiding me.

Now I was in a double potions block, and all I could think about was Harry's breath mixing with mine. I glanced over at him. He was working with Ron. They were laughing up a storm, but I couldn't tell what they were talking about. I was working with Julia McBrewin, she was actually fairly good at potions, but she talked my ears off. I eventually had to tune her out and focus on the work. Every so often I would glance over at Harry and Ron, but they never seemed to be doing anything different.

At the end of the class I had to stay behind. Julia had spilled the potion and her head had swollen to twice its size. She was rushed to the medical wing, and I was left with the mess. Now I was in an almost empty classroom, missing my lunch to clean up spilled potions. Now that the classroom was empty I started talking to myself.

"Stupid girl. Couldn't get her head swollen up to four times it's size? For her that would be more like two times it's size. Her head is already so swollen. All her gossip and big-mouthed idiocy." I kept mumbling insults and profanities under my breath.

"Having fun?" a voice said from behind me. I jumped. Harry was leaning against the desk behind mine.

"Uhh." Oh god, I can't even form full sentences. Come on! "You know, cleaning, my speciality." Couldn't I come up with something better than that? I looked down as I tried to scrub some newt eye juice off the floor.

"Need some help?" Harry asked.

"Uh, sure." He grabbed some rags from the pile and started mopping and scrubbing with me.

"Shouldn't you be at lunch?"

"I wanted to make sure you could eat too. Didn't want you to be starving in your next block." He sounded so worried. Best friend, best friend. I just have to keep reminding myself that he worries because he is my best friend. Just my best friend. Best friend, best friend, best friend... He interrupted my thoughts.

"Almost done. Then we can eat!" he sounded so excited. I hurried to wipe up the last of the muddy yellow potion. It really didn't take that long to clean up with two people. We quickly put all the rags in the bin in the corner, hurrying to lunch.

The quickest route was up a very skinny staircase. We didn't even seem to talk to each other. We just suddenly decided to take that staircase, together, as if our minds were linked. I was walking slightly in front of him, meaning that I had to go first. Two people couldn't fit up the staircase at the same time. I was worried that he might see up my skirt as we ascended, which was making me very flustered and distracted. I wasn't thinking about were I was going and I missed a step. I started to tumble backwards. Before I could even scream, I stopped falling. My feet weren't on the ground, but I wasn't moving either. I glanced around and found my self in someone's arms. I looked up into Harry's brilliant green eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N** I know I forgot the disclaimer on the last chapter, sorry about that. Please don't sue me. Most of the characters in the story are J.K. Rowling's. Please do not assume they are mine. Anything you recognize is obviously hers.

Further more, I would just like to say thank you for reading, and putting up with long waits. If you would like to please review. I will put no pressure on you to review more than this, so please remember if you choose to. Have a great day/evening/night.

_**Chapter Three**_

Ginny's POV

Why did I have to go and see him last night? Gosh that was such an idiot move. Lunch is on and I have to walk right past the Slytherin to get to Gryffindor's. Maybe I will just skip lunch. But I am in a crowd of hungry people, getting pushed towards the great hall. Great! No avoiding him now. He even called me perfect. No, no, no! Get your mind off of that. Think of other things! Hmm, Ron had grown a lot in the last two years. He was more of a giant then anyone in the family. Finally a body to match his big head! I let out a small giggle at that. We were almost at the great hall. The doors flung open and everyone was rushing to their tables. I hung back a bit, when I thought I saw Drac-Malfoy. Malfoy not Draco! I always have to correct myself.

I walked into the great hall after the great hall after the crowd was seated. I hurried towards the Gryffindor table, but someone's legs were in the way. I glanced over at the Slytherins. Dr-Malfoy gave me a smile. If it could be called that. People were starting to stare. I didn't want to stop and talk to him, and I sure as hell wasn't going to step awkwardly over his legs. A part of brain I was trying to ignore kept reminding me how handsome he was, and if I tripped I would land is his arms... No! I took my leg back and kicked Malfoy as hard as I could. He gasped and pulled his legs back. I kept on walking. I didn't look back until I reached the Gryffindor table.

"What was that?" Hermione asked as she sat down. She was later than I was. Harry sat down next to her.

"Malfoy's staring. What's got his wand in a twist?" Harry had picked up some wizard phrases over the summers he spent with us.

"If he did one thing to you!" Ron's face was red. I rolled my eyes. That protective older brother thing was starting to wear off.

"Malfoy" I had to mentally correct myself before I talked. I would NOT call him Draco. "is just being a annoying git. Like usual." I dished myself out somebeans and toast, trying to avoid Hermione's eyes. She always seemed to know what was going on. She started to have a conversation with her friends, but she would always glance at me after several minutes.

After a while Harry and Ron had gone on to talk about the quidditch practice we were having later. Hermione moved over to talk to me.

"You know he's been staring out you all of breakfast, right?" she talked quietly.

"Who?" I took a bite of my toast.

"Malfoy." suddenly my mouth felt dry. I swallowed my mouthful. It made my throat feel grainy and gross. I glanced over my shoulder. Sure enough his eyes were fixed on me. We made eye contact. He didn't look away or flinch. I turned around.

"You okay?" Hermione was motioning towards my hands, they were shaking.

"Fine, fine." But I wasn't. I could feel his stare on my back. I stopped eating and left the hall. I walked hurriedly around the Slytherin table and only looked at my feet as I passed. By the time I was out of the doors my cheeks were flushed and I was trying my best just to walk straight. I just had to get back to the common room. No one would be there, I could freak out.

I felt eyes on my back. Crap! It's Draco trying to get revenge for me kicking him! Another part of my brain chimed in. He wouldn't do that! Of course he would. He's a Malfoy. He called me perfect. He tried to trip me.

My mind kept having the argument even after I decided to keep climbing the stairs. I was almost at the top of the second staircase and I couldn't take it anymore. I swivelled around and almost lost my balance. It took me a couple of seconds to regain it, and as I glanced around to see who was watching I caught a glance of blond hair and gorgeous grey eyes disappearing around the corner.

Harry's POV

After Ginny had left Hermione tried to rejoin our conversation, but she knew nothing about quidditch. So Ron started talking about the potions class and hard the classes were. I thought back quickly. The grey room, brightened only by people's smiles, the glances at Hermione when she wasn't looking. The spilled potion. The cleaning. The feeling of Hermione in my arms. I felt my face going slightly red and I smiled at the thought.

"What are you smiling at?" Ron asked accusingly. After all the fun I made of him a while ago, I deserved it. His face was half laughter and half hypocritical.

"Nothing." Out of the corner of my eye I could see Hermione look down. She was smiling too.

"You've got to be on about something!" he looked at Hermione. "Everyone knows but me!" I looked at Hermione. We had been friends so long, we could communicate without talking. We decided to tell some truth, just not all of it.

"I tripped up the stairs on the way back from potions. That's all." Hermione's voice was utterly believable. Ron looked at her for a long second.

"Alright..." he trailed off, "But if you two are hiding something!" He seemed to end the exclamation there. Hermione and I looked at each other shook our heads and went back to our lunches.

Ron spent the rest of the time staring at us, which was a nice change from staring at the Ravenclaw table, although slightly uncomfortable.

Hermione stood up to leave a bit later, brushing the crumbs off her sweater.

"Oh wait, I'll walk with you. I have to grab some books anyway." she nodded and smiled at me. Ron was still swallowing his food and before he could say anything we left the great hall. We headed for the stairs when Hermione turned around and looked at me.

"Why did you want to come with me Harry?"

"Your my friend."

"You very well better change your answer. You and I both know that is not the reason." she almost hit me in the face with her hair when she turned to look at me.

"Ok. Well maybe I just wanted to spend time with you."

"Better. Not a great answer, but better." we continued to hurry up the stairs. She was walking faster than I was and made it to the portrait of the fat lady before I did.

"Lemon Fry." she said. Whoever came up with the password this week was a complete twat. Hermione held the portrait open for me as the fat lady started talking about this week's buzz among the portraits. Hermione rolled her eyes at me. I rolled my eyes back as I came through the door.

Hermione stopped by a table and put some books down. I walked up behind her and put my hands around her waist. She spun around in my arms and looked at me. Or rather at my lips. She couldn't seem to focus on anything else. I tightened my arms around her waist. I leaned forwards, bit by bit. She didn't seem to mind.

"FINALLY!" an excited squeal came from behind us. Hermione and I split apart like shattered glass. I spun around to face the squealer. It was Ginny.

"Ginny! Nothing happened!" Hermione sounded so fed up with the world in two little sentences.

"Oh. Well... I'll just leave then..." She stood there for a moment then picked up the bag she dropped in her excitement and headed for the portrait door. I looked at Hermione. There was no getting that moment back now.

Hermione looked at me, and burst out laughing.

"I can't believe that happened!" she said through her fits of laughter. "Every time something happens, something messes it up!" her laughter was contagious. Soon we were both leaning against chairs, in fits of laughter that didn't seem to be ending anytime soon.

Draco's POV

What was I doing? I followed around Gin-that Weasley girl around after lunch. I almost ran up the stairs to catch her when she lost her balance. Almost. Instead I hurried around the corner. What. An. Idiot. Gods that was Granger's line. What was Weasley doing to me? I went through my next two classes in a blur. By the time I got back to the Slytherin common room, I had completely forgotten about the quidditch practice this afternoon.

"Malfoy! Malfoy!" little Josh Yucson came running up. He was the team's newest chaser. Our previous one had graduated last year. "Malfoy! Quidditch practice! Everyone else is going to start heading down to the pitch if you don't hurry!" he sounded excited. I sighed.

"I'll be down in a minute. Get ready to go." I said over my shoulder. This was going to be a long day. I ran up the stairs and changed into some jeans and t-shirt to practice in. I grabbed my broom on the way out the door and hurried to meet my team. They were already out by the dungeon entrance. I met them by the doors and we walked out to the pitch together. There was already a team out there. Crap!

We reached the pitch and started for the bleachers. Until their time was over we would just have to wait. I plunked down in a seat about two rows in front of my nearest team mate. I started to watch the players in the air. Maybe I could learn a few tactics from what they were doing. I angled my face upwards, but away from the sun. The teams were doing some unusual patterns. Their red and gold robes were flashing and- wait. Red and gold? I found myself watching one person with bright red hair flying around her face.

The red clad people stopped flying around and huddled together at the centre of the pitch. Three people came flying up to the stands where we were sitting. They hopped off their brooms and headed straight towards us. Dean or Seamus whats his face in the front. Harry behind him and a red-head in the back. I couldn't tell which one. Right before whats his face started talking Ginny came out from behind the bigger guys and marched towards. She sounded like she was going to say Draco but she changed her mind.

"Malfoy you stupid git! It is our practice time! Take you and your team off our pitch before I have to do it for you!" She stormed right up to me, grabbed my robes and pulled me up. She whispered so no one else could hear. "This is far from over." Then Harry and the other guy each grabbed one of her shoulders and gently pulled her back. She turned around and stormed back to her broom. I watched her fly away and then turned back to the Gryffindors in front of me.

"This is still our pitch for another fifteen minutes. If you don't mind we would be happier if you left." Whats his face was trying to be polite.

"Screw you and your band of idiots!" of course Bulstrode had to speak up now.

"Sit down!" I turned to face her. "I can and will remove you from the pitch. I suggest you shut up, and keep quiet!" I turned back to Potter and his friend. "Would you mind if we stayed here?"

"Yes I think we might." Potter's friend had to be the most polite mudb- muggleborn I had ever met.

"I don't think I can convince my team to leave without causing a riot." I said it as quietly as I could. "Do you think you could just not do any plays you would use in any games? We will sit here quietly. I can guarantee that." Harry nodded. Whats his face looked astonished at me.

"Ok. We can do that. But we might have to do the same to you in the future." he said. He still looked astonished. I nodded. I turned around and tried to quell the team before I looked up and watched Ginny laughing in the air with her friends.

Ron's POV

That tiny blond form that was standing so close to me the other night was now sitting in the stands, watching me play quidditch. She had stood so close to me. She told me I wasn't alright. She never touched me, just stood really_ really_ close. She took a deep breath like she was breathing me in, then asked if she could watch me play quidditch. I didn't know what to say. She was standing so close to me, and she was doing that head tilt, I just couldn't deny her what she wanted. I said yes. Dean had freaked out at me when I snuck her in, saying 'this is a closed practice, no girlfriends allowed!' but he gave in. It was only Luna. She probably wouldn't tell her quidditch team anything. Probably.

When I started walking towards the pitch I heard Luna tell Dean "He's not my boyfriend." I walked farther away and whether it was the distance or her talking quietly, I barely heard the last word "Yet."

So now I am flying around and I can't get my mind off her stunning blue-grey eyes and the way her hair falls over her eyes, or even the way she would fit against my chest.

"Ron!" someone called "RON!" Natalie was calling from the ground. Practice was over. The Slythrins were coming onto the pitch now. I flew to the ground, hopped off my broom and ran off the pitch. I caught up to Harry, he looked at me and shook his head.

"Better not leave your girlfriend behind." He started to walk ahead of me.

"She is not my girlfriend!" I called after him, but I couldn't help but add that one little word, "Yet." I turned around and headed back to the pitch. Luna was waiting by the stands.

"Thank you for letting me stay here." she said when I got closer.

"No problem. Not like you caused a lot of problems." I stuck my hands in my pockets. I felt very awkward all of a sudden. She nodded at me. We started walking towards the castle. We didn't say anything until we reached the entrance way.

"So... I have to go have a shower." She nodded.

"That will be nice."

"So see you at dinner?"

"You'll see everything at dinner." I looked at her strangely as she said that. She cocked her head at me. I wasn't really sure what to do, so I held my hand out for a shake. She swatted it aside. I was about to say something but she cut me off with a hug. She really was tiny. After my growth spurt, she only came up about halfway up my stomach. I patted her shoulders. She hung on about two seconds to long, then let ago and without a word, walked down a hallway to the left. I was left there in the entrance way feeling very confused. I had to shake my head to make the rest of my body move. I hurried up the steps to take a shower.

I came back down to the great hall. Looking around, I realized Luna wasn't there. One less distraction to put up with. Another part of my brain piped up. She is not a distraction. I started walking towards Harry, trying to keep Luna off my mind.

The quidditch team was talking quietly about some new tactics and I joined them. In a little while, Luna was off my mind. My hands were waving around wildly as I tried to explain a plan I had for a new play. This one involving bludgers. Everyone was shaking their heads.

"That is an absolutely terrible idea." Natalie, always polite.

"Ron. I think you might have got dropped on your head when you were a baby." Dean the team captain, who was usually polite, saying something rude. My plan must have been bad.

"You mean dropped on his head more than once." Ginny piped in "He couldn't have looked like that if he hadn't been dropped at least once." Before I could say anything, someone sat down beside me. I glanced over, expecting it to be Hermione. It was Luna. I couldn't think of anything to say. Everyone was staring at her. My mouth was hanging open.

"Don't mind if I sit here?" her voice was light and airy, as if this was the most normal thing in the world.

Hermione's POV

Harry and I were on much better terms now. No awkward silences for us. Although it wasn't clear whether or not we were actually dating, it made my days much more bearable. At dinner, Harry was talking to the quidditch team, so I started to read instead of talking to anyone. There was a loud gasp. I peeked over the pages of 'Hogwarts, A History' (an amazing book) to find Luna sitting at our table. Harry looked over at me, sitting down a few spaces from him and shook his head at me. He didn't know what was going on. He motioned for me to sit next to him. I got up and quickly switched seats.

"Why is Luna over here?" I whispered to him.

"No idea." he whispered back. I leaned over him to look towards Luna. She and Ron were having a quiet conversation, until she let out a high pitched laugh. Ron reddened. Wait. _Ron?! _

"Did you know about that?" I motioned towards the obviously new couple.

"I don't know if they are even dating. She watched us practice, then she just sat down next to him like the most normal thing in the world. Ron hasn't told me anything!" he sounded so stricken. His best friends life was a mystery to him. Luna and Ron were only sitting a few seats down from Harry and I.

"So, since when have you to been going out?" I was trying to face Luna, but Harry and Ron were in the way. She leaned over Ron and I leaned slightly over Harry.

"We're not. Not yet anyway. Most of us don't know the future. We are just friends right now. Like you and Harry." she was pulled back into conversation by Ron and Ginny. I looked at Harry. Harry cheeks were slightly swollen. He was trying not to laugh. We had sort of had a thing going. We hadn't kissed yet, but we had talked about going to Hogsmeade together.

"Do you think she knows?" I whispered to Harry. There was a lot of whispering going on, hopefully nobody would hear our conversation. He let put the breath he had been holding.

"I don't know. She could. She's like that." I nodded at that comment. She was just... that. That was the easiest way to describe her without being insulting. I looked around the Hall. Almost everyone was looking in our direction. Malfoy was staring at Ginny, as per usual. Neville had gone over to the Hufflepuff table when no one was looking. He was sitting next Hannah Abbot. She was sweet. Neville deserved someone like her. My scan swept back towards our table and caught Lavender Brown staring murderously at Hannah and Neville. I laughed out loud.

"What is it?" Harry asked. I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the great hall. We sat down on the benches by the stairs.

"Neville is sitting by Hannah. Hannah Abbot." I started to explain.

"Nothing's weird 'bout that. They've been doing that a lot lately."

"I know. But Lavender was staring daggers at Hannah." I finished. His mouth fell open. I started to laugh again. He put his hand over my mouth.

"Your laughter is contagious. No more laughing!" I raised my eyebrows. He wanted to play dirty? Then dirty it was. I quick as a wink, flicked my tongue out of my mouth, letting it rest on Harry's hand for less than a second, then retracted it. His eyebrows raised slightly. He pulled me towards him. I ended up being on his lap. He slowly removed his hand from my mouth. I started to say something about playing dirty, but he put his mouth firmly to mine before I could protest. I was shocked at what was happening, but I didn't pull back. When the realization hit me I leaned in towards him, and he seemed to let out a relieved sigh.

There was a sudden footstep and we scrambled off each other. The great hall door was scraping open. We scrambled up and apart from each other. We looked at each other. Crap! Can't we just get one moment of peace? A bobbing red head came out the door. Her giggles stopped mid stream.

"What have you two been doing out here? For five minutes?" I could feel my cheeks flush at Ginny's question. I looked at the floor and tried not to look guilty.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Once again, I do not own almost any of the characters. Most of them belong to J.K. Rowling. I take no credit what-so-ever.

Now I sort of lied last chapter when I said I wouldn't rush you to review. Please do. I would really like to know what you think. Thanks for reading.

_**Chapter Four**_

Ginny's POV

I was planning on leaving supper a little early and waiting in the library or in one of the empty classrooms until Draco came out. Then I would follow him. Why? I wasn't exactly sure. I was hoping I would just get mad at him for quidditch practice. But instead, I came out of the hall and there was Hermione and Harry. I was sure that they had been going at it. Gosh that was an awkward conversation. They sidetracked me. So I had to walk up to the common room, try to get away, fail, and end up sitting in my bed in my pyjamas. Gosh how that went wrong.

It was well after curfew and I was hoping everyone was asleep. I snuck out of my dorm and down the stairs, headed for the portrait door. I didn't know where Malfoy was, but I was determined to find him. Before I could reach the door however, I saw a form in a chair, with a book on their lap. Shit! I started to sneak by them when they let out a loud snore. I let out a relieved sigh. I was out the portrait door and headed for the stairs in seconds.

I reached the first floor when I heard someone come up from the dungeons. I glanced around. Nowhere to hide. Before they could reach the top of the stairs, I jumped behind the nearest statue and tried to control my breathing. The soft footsteps started to turn towards the stairs. I let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding. A breath that came out a tiny bit too loud.

"Who's there?" I recognized that voice. I peeked my head out from behind the statue, to find Draco clad in black silk. I blinked, trying move before he saw me. I rolled away from where he was standing, towards the other side of the statue. But of course, my flaming red hair once again gave me away.

"I know it's one of you Weasleys. I could see your red hair." before he could continue with his little 'I hate the Weasleys' speech, I stood up and came around the statue.

"Draco." he looked surprised. Rather it be at seeing me, or me using his real name, I didn't know.

"Ginny? Why are you out right now?"

"I could ask you the same thing." his eyebrows bunched together, and I continued "Besides, I said that it wasn't over, and it isn't."

"So you decide to come find me in the dead of night." He looked me up and down. "With no socks on. Your feet are going to freeze!" I shifted my feet on the stone floor. He was right they were cold.

"Stop trying to change the subject! We don't have a lot of time to talk otherwise. I thought this would be my best bet."

"Best bet for what? Getting hypothermia?" I looked at his black silk hoodie, covering his black t-shirt and sweats. Oh how warm it looked. I shrugged. He took off the hoodie that I had looked so longingly at a moment before. He walked over to me and draped it around my shoulders. Before I could say anything a meow came from behind us. I looked into Draco's stormy grey eyes. Filch's cat was coming and there wasn't anywhere big enough to hide the both of us. One of us was going to get caught. He ducked behind the statue I had been hiding behind. Of course he would save himself. I spun around to face the cat.

Arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me down. Draco had pulled me into his lap. He grabbed my legs and wrapped them around him. Pressing us close together. Then he pushed us as close to the statue as we could get. We breathed quietly until the meowing was just echoes. I finally realized what a predicament I was in. I turned to face Draco. We just stared into each others eyes as our breath mixed together.

Harry's POV

I laid in my bed thinking about all the things that happened today. Quidditch, Luna and Ron, Neville, Hannah and Lavender, Hermione. I let out a sigh. Hermione was absolutely wonderful. The thought of her jolted me awake. I got up and went to sit in the common room, maybe do a bit of homework. I started down the stairs, only to see a form step gracefully off the stairs and head towards the fireplace. I continues downwards. It doesn't matter how long I stay up. It's Saturday tomorrow.

I was headed for my favourite spot by the fire, but that person was already there. I walked around the couch to see who it was. The bushy hair gave her away.

"Hermione?" I sat down next to her.

"I couldn't sleep." she shrugged and put her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her and watched the fire die. Hermione tucked herself up so that her knees were on mine and she was sitting on her feet. I looked at her in the fading light of the fire. She was wearing a silky purple nightgown that fit her perfectly. It was tight yet flowy at the same time. Her arms were bare and the dress went into a slight V at the front, causing a lot of ideas in my head.

"So why are you up?" she asked.

"Couldn't sleep either." she nodded. I pulled her onto my lap. She looked slightly surprised, but settled down almost immediately. I leaned my heads towards her. She looked up towards me and kissed me lightly. It seemed like we couldn't be split apart. We both deepened the kiss.

By the time we had come apart to breath, the fire had died completely. I started the kiss this time. I just had to feel her lips on mine.

This time the time passed faster and it was over all to soon. She had her hands on the bottom of my t-shirt. That seemed to be where they had stopped. I reached over and slid one of her tiny straps off her shoulder. It seemed almost like she was retaliating when she put her cold hands up my shirt. She reached up until her hands were on my abdomen. I shivered slightly. She immediately started to withdraw her hands. I held them in place.

She looked up and we both leaned towards each other. She was almost laying on top of me. We stayed like that until we had to come up for air, then we dived in again.

"_Oh. My. God._" We both bolted up right at the sound of that voice. Ginny was staring at us from the other side of the couch.

"Where were you going Ginny?" Hermione tried to change the subject "Or where were you coming from?" Hermione's eyes widened a bit. Ginny's cheeks turned bright red.

"Don't try to spin this around on me Hermione! You two are the ones making out past midnight!"

"You're the one who was sneaking _back in_ past midnight!" They glared at each other.

"Ok. How about we all go to bed. And then we never talk about this again?" they stilled glared at each other. "Ginny that means no talking about us. And Hermione, no talking about Ginny." They glanced at me and then back at each other. Ginny reached her hand over the back of the couch. Hermione reached out and shook it. Neither of them seemed to question me.

"I am going to bed. If I find you guys going at it again..." she trailed off. She shook her head, like she was trying to get the memory put of her head. She turned on her heel and marched upstairs. Hermione and I stood there a bit longer. I was about to turn to leave, but I looked down first. I didn't want to trip over the couch and knock myself out (It's happened before). What I found instead was... amazing, wonderful. It made me ecstatic. Hermione was holding my hand.

Draco's POV

I laid in bed an extra long time, even for a Saturday. I couldn't help but let out a small smile as the memories washed over me._ Ginny sitting on my lap in the empty hallway. She didn't say anything, just stared into my eyes. I leaned forward just a little bit._ The smile was wiped off my face. _She had jumped back. Instead of sitting on my lap, she was sitting on my legs. She looked as if something had scared her. I asked if she was ok. She didn't seem to hear me. She glanced out from behind the statue. I'm sorry. _That was all she said before she jumped out from behind the statue and ran away. I hadn't seen her since. Nor had I gotten her off my mind.

I dragged myself out of bed and headed towards the bathroom to take a shower. I had to hurry, breakfast would be ending soon. By the time I got to the main hall breakfast was nearly over. I hurried to my seat and grabbed some food off the plates before they disappeared.

I was sitting by the end of my table, so Ginny wouldn't have to pass me when she got in, but I could see when she did. She nearly missed breakfast. She came in with her cheeks glowing an uncommon shade of red. Almost darker than her hair. After her initial glance around she kept her head down. I watched her as she headed to the Gryffindor table. Her movements were stiff.

After a bit of watching the Gryffindors a large argument started. It started quietly, so I missed most of what was said.

"I'll kill him! That slimy-" Weasley stood up but was cut off by Granger.

"Ron! Calm down! She said-" This time Ginny cut Granger off.

"Don't bother Hermione." She said as she stood up "The pompous ass doesn't deserve it. If he even knows what pompous means!" She shoved past her brother and left the hall. The food magically disappeared as everyone stared after her. Potter stood up and followed her, while Granger was trying to calm down Weasley. He shook her off and headed out the door. She followed a bit later. Everyone stared after the four of them. Slowly people started to trickle out the door. I left fairly quickly. We had quidditch practice early this morning. I however couldn't keep my mind on it.

The Gryffindors showed up for practice a little early and sat in the stands until we were done. That really didn't help my concentration. My mind kept straying to the red-headed girl in the stands. By the time practice was over, I had effectively accomplished nothing. My team came down to the ground and headed off the pitch, meeting the Gryffindors at the edge. Weasley shoved me as I passed him. Potter followed looking slightly apologetic. Then came Ginny who had her head down. She looked up at me as I passed, saw me looking, and put her face down again. Everyone else brushed past uneventfully.

I stood by the pitch for a moment, watching that Weasley g- Ginny fly around. She paused and I saw Weasley go off on her. Oh there would be trouble for that. Potter flew over with whats-his-face the team captain. Potter grabbed the club away from Weasley (he was a beater. And a terrible one at that). Whats-his-face grabbed one of Weasley's arms and the broom handle and pulled both him and Weasley to the ground. Weasley was yelling at all sorts of people and whats-his-face eventually just pointed off the pitch.

Before I could do anything, gentle hands were placed on my shoulders. I jerked around. Ginny stood behind me. He broom hovered a few feet behind her.

"You should leave. Quickly. He's mad at you." her voice was quiet. I glanced back at the pitch. We didn't have long until Weasley would see us.

"Why? Why is he mad at me?" I hadn't done anything to him. Well not in a while anyway.

"Later. You have to leave. Quickly!" she glanced back at the pitch.

"You will explain." I looked her straight in the eye as I said that, then took off running towards the castle. I could hear Ginny talking to her brother in the distant. I didn't stop to listen. I knew that she would be talking to me later, whether she liked it or not.

Ron's POV

Bloody Malfoy! Staring at my sister all the time. For all I know he could be following Ginny around! I stamped my foot. I had to sit in the bloody change rooms because I couldn't 'control my temper'. Then Ginny just had to say he didn't really do anything other than being annoying git. What was wrong with her?! I paced back and forth. Gosh they were taking forever practising! What the hell could they be doing? Another part of brain said 'practising'.

"Shut UP!" Did I just yell at myself? This was getting slightly out of control. I sat down in one of the chairs.

"Well that wasn't very nice." I had heard that voice so often in my head, that I thought that's where it was. Wouldn't be the weirdest thing that happened today. Somebody sat down beside me. I jerked my head around. Luna was sitting beside me. I was still angry, so everything I thought was angry too. I couldn't stop my mouth fast enough.

"Why are you here?" the edge to my voice was noticeable. She frowned.

"I was walking. I heard yelling. I was worried." she looked sad at the fact I had yelled at her.

"I'm sorry for yelling. I have a lot on my mind." I forced my voice to go down quite a bit. She put a comforting hand on my arm.

"I am sure you do Ron. But sometimes, you have to put it behind you. Look towards other people as well." Her hand stayed on my arm.

"Thank you." I put my hand on top of hers. It looked like an elephant on a mouse. There was some noise outside.

"You should probably go. People will be wanting to talk strategy." she nodded slightly at my comment, tilted her head to the side, then got up and left.

"Your shirt is inside out." That was Colin Creevy, chaser.

"I know." That was Luna "Sometimes it's good to be inside out." I could feel people staring. "Have a nice morning." the door closed behind her. Natalie was standing by me. She checked her watch.

"It's afternoon." she sounded so confused. Sometimes you just have to roll with it. Especially with Luna. Dean walked up to the front of the room.

"Umm. Okay, uh, besides from that amazing display of time-telling, I actually called you guys in here for a reason. So, uh, please take a seat." Dean was a good captain. A little new, but a good captain none-the-less. Everyone moved to sit around me. Harry plopped down beside me.

"You ok?" I nodded at him. Dean started talking before he could ask anymore questions.

"So first game's been announced. It's Gryffindor and Slytherin." everyone groaned. "We've two maybe three weeks to prepare. It's at the end of October." There was a chorus of sighs to match the groans. "So, that's, uh, that's it." Dean walked towards the door, everyone following at different paces in his wake.

I hurried forward to catch up to Ginny. She saw me coming and walked faster. We were headed toward the castle now.

"Hey Ginny." she didn't answer me. "Sorry for blowing up like that." she let out a small growl like sound. Better be careful now. "How about that game with Slytherin huh?" she glanced at me, saw the look of dislike on my face and huffed. We were inside the entry way now. "What? Why are you angry?"

"How can you ask me that? You flipped on me because you hated someone! All I said was that he didn't bother me and you had to be taken out of quidditch practice! I am glad that you actually see me as a girl and all but you don't have to worry about me! Worry about your own life! If you can get that angry about nothing, than it really does need to be worried about!" she spotted Luna by the doors. "Go be with your girlfriend, and stop bothering me! Hi Luna" she stormed off. Luna walked over and put a comforting hand on my arm.

Hermione's POV

I headed down to lunch, silently dreading it. I had grabbed Harry's hand and I didn't know if it would be awkward or not. That may have been moving to fast. He might not have wanted that to happen. Gosh I felt like I was twelve again. Not sixteen.

I got there before anyone else. They were probably still at quidditch practice. Before I could dish anything out on my plate Ginny came storming into the hall. When she got close enough, she started venting.

"The hypocrite! Of all the things he could say to me!" she continued on for a while. I got the picture that she was talking about Ron and this morning. And then he said something stupid, like usual. I focused my attention on things more interesting. Hannah and Neville were sitting a few seats down from me. They waved. I waved back. Lavender glared spitefully from their other side. I gazed around the room and found Draco Malfoy staring at Ginny. Making a mental note to bring that up later, my gaze continued.

"Hi Harry." Ginny said rather spitefully, then continued on her rant about Ron the idiot. The words froze me in my tracks and made me turn slowly to face the people sitting next to me. Harry was just sitting down next to me.

"Hi. What's Ginny going on about?" he asked

"You know. Ron being an idiotic twat."

"So the usual?"

"Pretty much. Just more long winded this time." Ginny took a deep breath and settled down to her lunch. Harry was sitting closer to the door, so as we were talking I could see Luna and Ron walk in together. I cut Harry off. He was saying something about quidditch. I hadn't really been paying attention.

"Harry. Look." I pointed towards the door. They looked almost like they had just stopped holding hands. Harry's mouth fell open.

"That happened quickly." Ginny piped up. Ron came and sat down next to Ginny. She turned her head in the other direction.

"So when's the first date?" Harry tried to hide his smile by looking down at the sandwich that was on his plate.

"What?" Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"Your first date? When is it?" he was grinning now "Going to Hogsmeade?" Ron somehow turned both white and red at the same instance.

"We're not dating." he stared down at his empty plate.

"So Luna just comes to watch you play quidditch practice, for no reason?" Harry was still smiling.

"She was going for a walk and heard yelling."

"You sure about that? Where would she have been walking to? And that close to the pitch?" Ron got up and left.

"Luna's staring." Ginny had looked back at us when Ron left. Harry and I turned around to look at the Ravenclaw table. Sure enough Luna was glancing between the door and us. I turned back around while Harry was still looking.

"Hey, Ginny." She leaned closer, my voice was quiet. "Somebody's staring at you." She glanced first at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables, then turned around to look at the Slytherins. A pair of grey eyes followed her gaze. Her face flushed and she got up and left the table. Harry turned back around.

"Hey, do you want to take a walk after lunch?" I smiled.

"I'd love that."

"Great. Hey where did Ginny go?"


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter Five**_

Ginny's POV

Oh my life was such a mess. Like a mixed up potion, or one of those balls of string that are so tangled that even magic can't help.

My brother is mad at me for saying that a guy didn't really bother me. I caught my brother's two best friends going at it. And when I caught them, I had been sneaking in from seeing the guy that everyone hates. Ugh!

I kicked a rock out of my way. When Hermione had told me Draco had been staring, I bolted. Out of the main hall, out of the castle. It was Saturday so I just walked along the castle's edge, hoping to get away from everyone. I traced the wall with my hand. Before I knew it I was at the back of the castle. I had never been here before. The forest was almost reaching the wall, and ivy and moss were covering the stones.

My hand continued along the wall. All the plants were a nice change from the rocky and smooth textures of the stones. I was about halfway down the wall when my hand went farther in then it should have and I almost fell over. I pulled back some of the ivy and found a small bench set into the castle wall. I walked into the small crevice and at down on the bench (after vigorously stabbing my wand into all the nooks and crannies. I didn't want to be sitting here with any rats or spiders).

I spread my legs out in front of me and started humming to myself. I got lost in thought, thinking about all the stuff that had gone on today. I still hadn't told Draco what Ron was angry about. I didn't really plan on it actually. It's not like he would enjoy the fact that Ron was mad that he was staring at me all the time. He might, actually. And did he really stare at me that much?

I could barely hear the words. They seemed to come from a long distance away. I had to shake my head to pull me away from my thoughts as they repeated themselves.

"Are you going to tell me why Weasley is yelling at everyone? Or am I going to have to force it out of you?" Draco asked as he sat down next to me. The bench wasn't very big so we were sitting fairly close together. Not as close as last night... I shut that thought down immediately. I was so not going there.

"You might just have to force me." I realized how that sounded bit my lip. Draco's eyebrow raised.

"Is that so?" he turned to face me fully "That could be easily arranged." I now realized that he was blocking me in. The only way out of the crevice was to get past him. How did he even know that the crevice was here? Let alone that I was here?

"Were you following me?" his faced reddened. I tried not to smirk at him. I failed miserably.

"Don't try to change the topic." but he was found out. "Answer the question."

"Was that the one about the argument, or the one about forcing it out of me?" I was trying to keep his mind off the subject.

"Fine!" he leaned towards me. "I'll get it out of you eventually." I scrambled backwards, so I was pressed right against the wall. He was still blocking my way out. He came closer and closer, until we were almost nose to nose.

"I guess I'll ask you a different question. Why did you run away last night Ginny?" My heartbeat went rabid at his words. My faced flushed. He inched closer. His nose was touching mine.

"Ginny?" his words were softer now.

"I, uhh..." I trailed off did I really want to tell him why I ran away? Do I really want to tell him that I was scared of him? Not of him torturing me, or bullying me, but of his lips on mine. Did I really want to tell him?

"Ginny?"

Harry's POV

Hermione and I walked around the lake. We didn't really talk much. I think we were feeling our own feelings and didn't really know what to say. About halfway around the lake, I couldn't stand it anymore.

"So, Hermione. I wanted to talk you."

"About what?"

"Well..." I trailed off. She looked half scared and half startled.

"What is it?" she was really sounding scared now. I rushed through my next sentence.

"I was thinking that, maybe, you might like to go to Hogsmeade with me?"

"Oh Harry is that all? You made me worried. Of course I'll go to Hogsmeade with you." she sounded like it was the most simple thing in the world. I grabbed her hand and kissed her forehead.

"Oh Hermione I love you." I said before I could stop myself. She looked so shocked.

"Ummmm... Uhhh..." she released my hand and rubbed hers together. "Uhhhh..."

"Hermione-" she took off towards the castle before I could say anything else. I followed but her running away had shocked me, so I was quite a bit behind her. By the time I had gotten around the lake, Hermione was well past the womping willow.

As soon as I came into the entrance way, I looked away to see which way she had gone. I was never going to find her. So I headed upstairs to the common room. These are the times when the Mauraders Map came in handy.

I went inside the portrait door and found Ron doing his homework.

"Have you seen Hermione?"

"What have you done to piss her off this time?"

"Nothing. Possibly. Just answer the question."

"She came in a while ago. Went up to her room without saying hi, then came back down and left. Are you going to go apologize?" he seemed interested in what was going on. I actually felt sorry for not giving him any details.

"Yep." I ran up the stairs to our dorm, grabbed the map and headed out the door. I called a quick goodbye to Ron as I left. He looked disappointed. I didn't have time to dwell on it though. I unfolded the map and searched for Hermione's name. I followed the map without looking where I was going. It said she was somewhere on the seventh floor.

I didn't look up once. Because of that, I ran straight into the wall.

"Watch where you're going, _Potter_." Malfoy.

"Shut it Malfoy. Have you seen Hermione."

"Granger went off crying a little while ago. Shoved me out of her way. Now why would you care?" he sneered at me.

"Don't you say one word against her Malfoy! Not one word!" he opened his mouth to say something. Before he could speak I had my wand out and pointed at him.

"Potter-" I cut him off with the bat boggie curse that whipped out of my wand. He sprouted bat wings. The few people in the hallway freaked out as Malfoy shot a curse back. In the corner of my mind I realized that one of them had yelled to go get Dumbledore and run off. This wasn't going to end well, but we kept firing at one another. Again and again.

Suddenly the wands were flung out of our hands and all the curses reversed. It was a shame to see Malfoy's bat wings go.

"Would you like to explain what is going on here?" Dumbledore's voice came from behind me. I spun around.

Draco's POV

This was truly the worst day of my time at Hogwarts. I trapped Ginny in a secluded corner and asked her why she ran away. What did she do? Wait until I was right next to her, then grab my arms and spin me around so I was facing the wall. I was so shocked I couldn't brace for it. Later the same day Potter had the brilliant idea to curse me! Got us both in trouble. Detention for two weeks. Every Tuesday and Thursday. That was only four days, but still. Valuable quidditch practice time out the window. The game was only two weeks away! And of course it was against Gryffindor. I was going to have to either piss Ginny off royally, or let her win. I wasn't particularly inclined to do either.

I could barely sleep that night, so I got up and wandered around the castle. It was nice and quiet. Peaceful even. I kept an eye out for Ginny while I was walking, but after this afternoon, I was pretty sure she wouldn't be walking the halls. After a while of padding around my theory was confirmed. So instead of searching for the redhead, I set my mind to thinking about her. Honestly, what was going on with me? I couldn't keep her out of my head. I couldn't focus. I couldn't even manage to get her to answer my questions either. She had so much - what was the word - spunk. And attitude. So much atti-

I ran right into a wall. I had zoned out thinking about her. Again.

"Wow. And I thought that I was the one with the problem with talking out loud!" I looked down. Ginny smirked at me. "So much attitude huh? Who were you rambling about?" I ignored her.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well that didn't answer my question. You really aren't being helpful." We circled each other.

"Well you didn't answer my question either, _Weasley._"

"Wow, back to using my name as an insult. You must be really desperate." She smirked at me. She must have picked up some of my bad habits. I had actually been an influence on her!

"Desperate is not the word I would use."

"You're right. Depressing, clingy, hopeless. Those might be more appropriate." Her nose scrunched adorable when she said 'clingy'. Ugh, stop thinking that way! I looked her up and down. She wasn't wearing pyjamas.

"What are you doing out here? Not in your pyjamas?"

"I came to return that black hoodie you loaned me. I figured wandering around in the middle of the night was the prime time to find you."

"You don't have to return it right now. You can keep it." I was shocked she thought I was loaning it to her. Why would she think I want it back?

"Draco, I think we can all agree that we don't want the same things. Definitely not out of" She gestured to the space between us. "whatever the hell this is. So here is your sweater," she turned to pick it up off the floor where it had been dropped when I crashed into her, giving me a nice view of her backside. I removed my eyes as she straightened. She placed the neatly folded sweater against my chest. "and this is goodbye." She showed very little emotion in general but as she walked away I swear I could hear he let out a sigh.

Ron's POV

At breakfast the next morning, Luna didn't sit with us. I didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed. I don't know what was going on with her. Or us. She was so tiny and perfect, but everyone assumed we were dating, which we weren't. Yet. I couldn't help adding that little word whenever I thought about it. Someone punched me in the shoulder and broke me from my thoughts.

"Ron! We have been talking to you for the last ten minutes!" Hermione yelled in his general direction. She was sitting in between Ginny and Fred. Fred was invested in a conversation with Sarah Wills sitting next to him, and Ginny was still ignoring me.

"Sorry. What were you on about?"

"I was talking to you about the quidditch game. And then Hermione asked if you were still mad about Malfoy." Harry added from beside me. I glanced at the Slytherin table. Malfoy was still staring at Ginny, who was doing her best to ignore him, and me.

"Oh he is still angry. Very angry." Hermione added staring at me. For some reasons she hadn't looked at Harry all breakfast.

"So," I turned to Harry. "Quidditch?" Harry brightened slightly from his glum mood and rambled on about a new idea for a play until breakfast was over. I grabbed my bag of books and headed off to defense against the dark arts as Harry continued to ramble. He only stopped when we reached the door. He looked like he was about to go sit next to Hermione at the front of the class, but she called Luna as soon as she saw us. I picked a seat at the back of the class, and Harry dropped his books beside mine.

"So what's up with you and Hermione?" I asked Harry. He looked shocked. "Don't play dumb with me. I know something is going on. You guys would get red whenever you looked at each other for a while, and now she refuses to look at you. What happened?"

"Well..."

"I would usually go to Ginny for information, but she is pissed."

"She is pissed for a good reason."

"Don't change the subject."

"Fine. We kissed, and I accidentally said I loved her." Harry looked away, and before I could say anything the class started.

When the teacher gave us some time to work Harry explained but before I could start questioning him a fit of giggles game from ahead of us. We both looked up to find Luna and Hermione with their heads pressed together. They would occasionally glance back at us, which caused more giggles on their part. Harry and I looked into each other's eyes.

"Shit." We said in unison.

Hermione's POV

I spent the day with Luna. She kept spouting random facts about Ron and Harry. It was absolutely hilarious. She once, out of nowhere said "Harry brushes his teeth with sensitive teeth toothpaste." which caused a lot of laughter in defense against the dark arts. The rest of the day just flew by.

After an awkward supper of ignoring people and other people being stared at, I headed to the library with Ginny to work on our homework. We set up at a table in the corner. I started writing an essay, when Ginny decided to ask the most terrible question of all time.

"So what did Harry do to mess up this time?" she mentioned as she scribbled something down on her parchment. I was so startled that I knocked over my inkpot.

"What? Why do you ask that?" My voice broke when I was trying to sound normal. Oops.

"Shut it Hermione, you know why. You guys were going at it one day, ignoring each other the next. Or should I say, you were ignoring him, because he definitely not ignoring you." She stared at me until I looked at her.

"It was nothing." I shrugged it off or tried to.

"Sod off, you know it was something. Spill it."

"Like you should talk. All that business with you and Malfoy."

"That business with Malfoy is not my fault. I have nothing to do with it."

"Then who were you sneaking out to see in the middle of the night?"

"While you were making out with Harry?" We glared at each other for several minutes. Then we both couldn't stand it anymore and burst out laughing. We laughed so hard that we actually got shushed. We quieted down.

"So what actually happened?" Ginny asked much more quietly.

"Well, he said he loved me."

"Damn," Ginny looked disgusted. "Why did he have to do that? Geez!" She shook her head and turned around to lean her elbows on the table. "Oh! Oh!" She grabbed my arm.

"What is it?" I looked around. Lavender had entered the library and was walking over to Neville's table. When Neville got here, I didn't know when. She bent over his table, with quite a lot of cleavage hanging out. I heard her quietly ask 'Can I study with you?'.

"Do you think he'll stick with Hannah?" Ginny whispered.

"I don't know." I whispered. "But we better leave them too it. I don't want them to see us whispering about them."

"Smart." She said, and we gathered our stuff and hurried out of the library


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter Six**_

Ginny's POV

The next day, I waited in the library after my classes for Harry. I knew his detention was in here, organizing books or something, and I need to reprimand him for the crap he pulled with Hermione. So I sat on one of the bigger desks in the center of the room.

"Waiting for me _Weasley_?" The voice sent shivers up my spine. I couldn't let it get to me however.

"Only in your dreams." I turned my head slightly so that I could see him.

"Why are you here?" He frowned at me.

"Not for you, I assure you. I am waiting for Harry."

"You back with him now?" Draco asked as he put his book bag down and headed to a bookshelf. I have no idea what he was doing.

"First of all, I wasn't with him in the first place." I stretched out my legs and swung them around a bit. "Second of all, no. Just, no. I have no interest in Harry whatsoever."

"Then why are you here?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I have to talk to him about Hermione, so sod off." He shut up for a while.

"Gin! Why are you here?" Harry's voice came from behind me. I hopped off the desk and spun around. His face went from smiling to scared in 0.2 seconds flat. It would have been funny if I wasn't here to get angry at him.

"Harry..." I growled at him, almost as a warning. His eyes widened. I grabbed his arm and dragged him down an aisle of bookshelves, so that we could get away from prying eyes. Namely, Draco- Malfoy.

"Ginny?" Harry asked nervously.

"Why did you do that?!" I jabbed my finger into his sternum.

"Do what?"

"Tell Hermione you loved her! What did that do? Did that help you at all?" I cut him off before he could answer. "No! No, it didn't. You screwed up big time!"

"I get that! Do you think I wanted to screw that up? She is what I want more than anything else. Why would I ever try to screw that up?"

"It's you! You screw up a lot! How could I know what you intended and didn't intend to do?"

"Hey!" He looked hurt. "I don't try to mess up everything I touch. This was an accident. It just slipped out!"

"Well, you're accidental slip up has freaked out Hermione."

"What can I do?" His eyes pierced mine with an intensity I hadn't seen from him in a long while.

"I can't help you fix everything! Just go explain it to her!" Before Harry could say anything else someone coughed behind us. We both spun around to see Draco standing at the end of the aisle.

"Ummm... Sorry to bother you, but we have to get all these books stacked. And we only have about two hours until curfew." Drac-Malfoy mentioned politely, looking away.

"Oh! Okay." Harry nodded at him politely and hurried to stack the books. Draco paused for a moment after Harry had turned the corner and looked at me.

"You had better get going." Draco mentioned politely and bobbed his head.

"Actually," I gently pushed past him, getting far closer than I intended to, and accidentally pushing against him (which was quite nice), before sliding to the other side. "I think I'll stay." I felt his eyes on me as I turned the corner to find Harry.

Harry's POV

Ginny stayed in the library all night with us. She even helped us stack some of the books on the shelves, although I had to direct her in what to do. Malfoy and I had to have an hour long course on what to do. Once, she went to the far end of the library with a couple of books. A little while later Malfoy headed in the same direction with a smaller stack of books. Neither of them came back for quite a while. Just when I started to get worried, Ginny came back with slightly pink cheeks.

A little while after that, we finished stacking the books for today and then left to head back to the Gryffindor common room. We walked in silence. Even with Ginny helping, the books took forever to put away in the right places and it was close to eleven before we were done. We parted at the stairs in the common room without a word. I collapsed into my bed and didn't even dream.

I woke up late the next morning and had to run to breakfast. Even then I missed the food by minutes. People rushed past me as I stumbled to herbology. Hermione caught up to me and pushed a piece of toast into my hands.

"You missed breakfast." she saw my dumbstruck expression and clarified. "Ginny explained. Eat your toast." Then she hurried ahead. Today she was sitting with Patty Patil and Luna was sitting with Ron, so I was working with Lavender Brown. She spent all her time glaring at Neville and Hannah, who were working at the next table over.

I spent the whole class- no the whole day- trying to focus on what was going on, but ending up only focusing on Hermione. Needless to say, I had homework at the end of the day. As potions ended and we headed back to the common room, I put my head down and tried to figure out what I was going to say to Hermione when I had to talk to her.

"Hey!" Someone backhanded the back of my head. Quite hard too. It really hurt.

"What was that for?!" I turned to see who had done it. I found Hermione glaring at me.

"Just because we got into a brief disagreement does not mean you can ignore me! I am still your best friend."

"Sorry! I was just thinking." I rushed to explain.

"It's okay Harry, calm yourself. Just talk to me, okay? You don't have to always blow the disagreement out of proportion."

"Oh, okay. I didn't mean to do that. It was just-" Hermione cut me off.

"Harry! Stop it!" So we stopped talking as we walked. We just walked together, which was good enough. Once we got back to the common room, we started doing homework. I was working on something when Hermione leaned over my shoulder and kissed me on the cheek. I laughed and turned to kiss her. She ruffled my hair.  
"What is going on?" Hermione and I lurched away from one another. Ron was standing a few feet away. Hermione swore, which surprised everyone. I think that might have saved us.

"What did you just say?" Ron asked, so surprised that he had to hear it again. Hermione once again swore. This time, she said it three times in a row. Then she patted his cheek and walked past him to the girls dormitory. We stared as she walked away.

"Did she seriously just say four f-bombs in thirty seconds?" I asked. Ron nodded, his mouth still open in shock.

Draco's POV

I flopped in a chair in the Slytherin common room. We had quidditch team meeting later and I wanted to have some time to myself, to think. Last night, Ginny stayed in the library and I couldn't get my mind off of it.

Ginny, pushing past me, having her against me for a few fleeting seconds, her swinging her long legs back and forth. When she walked away to put some books away on the other side of the library, I couldn't help but follow her. I don't remember what I said, just that she had laughed til her face was pink. I loved that laugh. It sounded so amazing, like bells, or something better, like someone had condensed happiness and just put all of it into her laugh. And, why am I thinking about this? It's just Weasley. But it's not just Weasley is it? It's Ginny, and that is a whole different matter.

"Hey! Malfoy!" I looked up to find one of the new quidditch players looking at me.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"The practice, it's starting in a minute or two." I started to stand up once he had said that, and he scurried away. They were never gonna not be scared of me. I hurried to practice.

The next couple of weeks past in a flurry. Classes, practices, thinking. That's all I did. Before I knew it, it was the thursday before the game with Gryffindor. Classes past by almost in a dream. Then it was detention, then just a few more days.

I was working through the detention silently, Potter occasionally handing me books to put away. I handed Potter a couple of books off the top of the stack I was working on, because they were on his side of the library, then took the rest of the stack to the far side of the library. I headed towards the shelf by the window, where this specific stack was supposed to go. I put the stack on the ground and put a few of them away. I turned around to face the shelf on the other side and caught a glimpse of red hair out of the corner of my eye. I immediately turned 'round to see if it was Ginny. It was. She had her head buried in a book, with stacks of parchment scattered all around her. She wasn't even sitting at a desk, just had everything scattered around her on the floor. She was wearing those baggy pants that she always wore, plus a white t-shirt. Her robe was laying off to the side. She had a small rectangular device sitting beside her, which had a wire connecting it to her ears. I had seen those before. Those were muggle devices used to listen to music and make calls to other people. It was probably a gift from Granger. Ginny picked up her quill and scratched something down on a piece of parchment. As she did so, she bumped her elbow on the rectangle, so she picked it up and shoved it into her pocket. Then she continued to write. She blew some hair out of her face, even though it look beautiful hanging there. I realized I still had the book in my hand and turned to put it away.

When I looked back towards Ginny, she was standing up. I quickly ducked behind a bookcase. I leaned around it just a little bit, so that I could see her, but she couldn't see me. I was essentially putting all of my weight against the bookcase as I leaned against it. Ginny stretched her arms above her head, then stood on her tiptoes and stretched her arms outward. She still had the wires in her ears. She spun around in a circle, waving her arms about wildly. Then she pointed her foot and spun around in a much more graceful circle. She started to dance, amidst all her papers. It wasn't coordinated, or necessary, or helpful in anyway. It was just a wild dancing amidst all these papers and books and duties that she had to do. The movements were jerky, her hair was flying, and she had her eyes closed to the world. It was the silliest thing I had ever seen anyone do; and I wanted so badly to be dancing with her. Her movements slowed after a short time, and she sat down a little while after that. She opened her eyes once again, and started scratching on her parchment. I scurried around the corner to put away the stack of forgotten books. I stayed long enough after that to see her push her hair out of her face, then hurried back to where Potter ought to be.

Ron's POV

I hadn't talked to Luna in quite a few days. I was spending almost all my time practicing for the game with Slytherin, or catching up on the homework I was behind in. I didn't even spend much time with Harry and Hermione. Seeing as they were kind of together now, it was harder to find the time. Harry was at every practice, and Hermione was at every helpful homework session, but sometimes I wouldn't see them for hours on end. I didn't even question it at this point. So I studied and waited for the game.

It didn't take that long, and before I knew it it was game day. It was Saturday, and a little foggy. The floor was cold when I dragged myself out of bed. Harry was already gone by the time I woke up, so I got dressed and headed down to breakfast alone. When I got there, I walked straight to where the other gryffindor quidditch players were sitting. Everyone was eating, even if they were just nibbling on their food. Natalie was picking at a waffle, and next to her Colin was shovelling hash into his mouth as fast as he could go. Polar opposites those too. I dished myself out some eggs and toast, but wasn't feeling all that hungry. After I had cleaned my plate, I glanced around again. I didn't see Ginny, but Hermione had shown up and was sitting across from me. Luna was sitting at the ravenclaw table, and when she saw me she waved. I smiled back at her.

"We should probably get going." Dean said to the team. I nodded along, still slowly scanning the room. When my eyes got to the door, I finally saw Ginny. She was just coming into the hall, but a hand was suddenly on her arm. I trailed my eyes up to the owner of the hand's face. It was Malfoy. It took a minute for that to sink in. It was MALFOY. I slammed my hands on the table and shoved myself backwards, standing up. Dean thought I was heading out to the pitch and he stood up too. I was vaguely conscious of the rest of the team standing up, but I paid them no mind. I marched towards Ginny in a rage.

"Malfoy," I growled when I got close enough. "what are you doing talking to my sister?"

"Talking seems pretty self explanatory Weasley." Malfoy sneered, but removed his hand from Ginny's arm.

"Like hell." I was seething with anger.

"Ron stop." Ginny was scowling at me.

"Excuse me?" I was so stunned that that was all I could say.

"I said stop Ron. Stop it. You just seem like a prat." Ginny shook her head at me.

"For getting mad at this useless git for bothering you? He has no point in even talking to you. Why don't you go down to the pitch and never talk to the real prat again?" I was still angry.

"Ron..." Harry said from behind me. It was more of a warning than anything else. I turned slightly to look at him and at that moment someone's fist collided with my face. I stumbled backwards a step and then whipped my head back around to find the culprit. Ginny was shaking her fist and her knuckles were red.

"What the hell Ginny?!"

"That's what you get, you useless twit. Malfoy was wishing me a good game, and you had to come over here and be rude. If I'm not talking to the 'real prat' every again, I guess we're not talking." Ginny glared at me for a second then turned around and left the great hall. Malfoy shook his head at me and walked to the Slytherin table.

"You alright?" Harry asked. I nodded slightly, rubbing my jaw. Natalie shoved past me and left the hall, Colin followed. Dean patted my shoulder and left the hall. Seamus followed quickly. Harry and I followed. The quidditch match would be going on soon and we needed to get down there.

Hermione's POV

I headed down to the quidditch pitch shortly after the teams left. I was sitting at the table in shock until the slytherins left, because I was so surprised at what had happened. Ron was being a twit, and Ginny punched him, which was all understandable. But they don't do that in the middle of the great hall, and they definitely don't do that because of Malfoy. I found my seat by Neville and Luna and waited for the game to start. I can honestly say that I didn't pay much attention to most of the games. I never figured out quite how to work the brooms, or the sport in general. But I watched and cheered for Harry and Ron and Ginny as well as the rest of gryffindor. And today was definitely going to be one of the days we cheer a lot, or shriek a lot. Either way, today was going to be interesting.

I was half paying attention to the game, cheering when the people around me cheered, booing when they booed. We were halfway through the game, and slytherin had a lead by one point. Neville nudged my arm.

"Hey look," he pointed up and to the left. Malfoy was racing around beside Harry. "I think they saw the snitch."

"They probably did." Before I could say anything else, Natalie executed a perfect barrel roll and tossed the quaffle through the goal. The crowd cheered. Tied game. I glanced around the field watching Harry and Malfoy split up again, the snitch that they thought they saw gone. Ginny and Colin were tossing the ball back and forth up the field, while Natale buzzed around to the back of the goalposts. Seamus hit a bludger towards the lead chaser for slytherin. Dean was staying at the goalposts, buzzing around in circles. I finally spotted Ron. He wasn't moving and something seemed wrong. I pulled up my binocular thingys and looked at him. He was glaring at something and occasionally glancing towards where the bludgers were. I changed where I was looking, trying to find what he was glaring at. I finally found it. Malfoy. Malfoy was hovering on the other side of the pitch than Ron, searching for the snitch.

"Oh no." I mumbled. No one seemed to hear me because everyone collectively sighed. I glanced up, away from the binoculars. Apparently slytherin had stolen the ball from gryffindor. Ginny flew upwards, while Colin and Natalie tried to get the ball back. I assumed that was so that if they got the ball, they could pass it to Ginny and she could fly straight to the goalposts.

Everything that happened next was kind of a blur. For the first time, I saw Ron move. Something went flying towards Malfoy. It got quite close to him, and it looked like it was gonna hit him in the head. Suddenly red hair was beside Malfoy, and whatever Ron hit towards Malfoy hit that person instead. From the limited amount of red-headed players, it had to be Ginny. Ginny suddenly was crashing. She was knocked off her broom, and was flung sideways before dropping. If nothing happened she would die. But suddenly, Malfoy moved. All I saw was him lurched towards the falling red-head. Then she wasn't falling as quickly. His broom went spiralling wildly. I stood up and ran down to the pitch. I don't remember getting there, I just know I did. I was one of the first people to get there. Teachers were still running down, and some of the players hadn't even noticed yet. I still had to push past people.

What I finally saw made me gasp. Malfoy had Ginny pulled into his lap and was leaning over her. He cradled her in his arms, and was slowly brushing the hair out of her face. He was mumbling things under his breath over and over again. He rubbed her face, and continued to brush her sidebangs out of her face. But that wasn't what made me gasp. What made me gasp was Ginny herself. Her head was bleeding, making her hair a darker red. one side of her face was swollen, her nose had blood encrusted around the edges. Her arm was bent at odd angles in three different places and had a bone sticking out of it in her forearm. Her head looked like it had a dent in it. I stumbled forward, trying not to cry. I didn't know if she was okay. Everything was quiet and I could finally hear what Malfoy was mumbling.

"Come on Ginny, be okay Ginny, you're gonna be okay Ginny, please be okay Ginny, please Ginny be okay, Ginny please be okay..."


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter Seven**_

Ginny's POV

I woke up but still felt tired. My head was killing me and I felt like I was going to throw up. I don't remember falling asleep, what happened? I kept my eyes closed so I could think. The quidditch game, and Ron was glaring at someone, I remember that. I remember seeing Draco and realizing that was what Ron was glaring at. He hit a bludger towards Draco's head and I couldn't let him do that. I flew into the path of the bludger. That's what happened. I remember throwing one of my arms up to block my face, and, and that was it. I finally opened my eyes I blinked my eyes against the sun. I grumbled and tried to sit up.

"Madam Pomfrey! Madam Pomfrey, I think she's awake!" Someone yelled. I still couldn't quite see, but I knew I was in the hospital wing now. I blinked a couple more times to finally be able to see, and things started to come into focus. I was most definitely in the hospital wing. I was in the far corner, almost the same bed that Draco had been in when he was here for the boils. There was someone sitting in the chair to the left of my bed. Two more people were sitting on the bed to the right. Several sets of footsteps came running towards me. When they finally came into view, I saw Natalie and Colin, with Madam Pomfrey hurrying behind them. I looked around again to see Harry and Ron sitting on the bed and Hermione on the chair.

"Young miss, you have been giving us all a scare." Miss Pomfrey was saying. She sounded a little far away. I tried to lift up my arms to hold my head, but one of them hurt when I tried to move it even the slightest amount.

"Here drink this." She handed me a glass and I drank it without hesitation. She took her glass back before I could drop it. "You have ten minutes with visitors. That's all." She left a second later. The pain in my head subsided, and as long as I didn't move my arm I barely hurt.

"Morning." I mumbled. No one laughed at my weak joke.

"How are you?" Hermione asked.

"I'm a little sore, and a little tired, even though I've probably been asleep for twelve hours." I let out a little cough laugh and Natalie handed me a glass of water, taking back when I drank it all.

"_Twelve hours?!"_ Colin exclaimed, sounding surprised.

"Uh, yeah." I nodded.

"Ginny, you've been asleep for _four days_." Colin explained.

"What? Four days? No way!" I didn't believe it.

"You were hit pretty hard by that bludger. You had brain damage Ginny." Everyone shushed Colin. "What she was going to know sooner or later! Don't worry though, Madam Pomfrey fixed you up. But you're gonna have to stay here until this Saturday. At least all your teachers said you didn't have to make up any of the work you're missing." He started talking animatedly. I nodded along until I couldn't take it anymore.

"Colin, I have a headache I'm sorry. Do you think you could maybe not talk so loudly, or I can just sleep if that's alright."

"Come on Colin, we have some homework to do anyway." Natalie smiled at me and gave me a hug. "I'm glad you're awake Ginny." She whispered in my ear, then pulled away. She grabbed Colin's arm and dragged him away.

"How did I get to the ground?" I asked, looking towards Hermione.

"What?" Harry asked from the other side.

"I got hit, and then I was going to fall. Did I fall all the way down? Cause I kinda expected to be dead if I fell." I explained.

"Well-" Hermione started to explain, but Ron leaped to his feet and cut her off.

"Ginny, I am so sorry." He knelt down beside my bed and grabbed my hand in both of his. "I am so so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you. I am so sorry Ginny. I am so glad you're okay. I don't know what I would have done if you had died. Oh, I am so sorry." He started to cry.

"If you didn't want to hit someone in the head, don't aim at someone's head." I growled at him. He looked so surprised. "Yes, I saw you aiming at Malfoy. Just because you are pissed off at someone doesn't mean that you can just go and almost kill them." He tried to interject but I didn't let him. "And yes, you would have killed him, because no one would have helped him to the ground. He would have fallen and died unless a teacher got there fast enough. So don't try and defend it. You would have killed him, and in fact, you might have killed me. I put myself in danger, but it was still your fault." I pulled my hand out of his grasp and he rocked back on his heels. He looked shocked. "I think that ten minutes is up."

Harry's POV

Ron didn't say a word after we left Ginny. He hadn't been saying much to begin with. After she got hit, he had gone to see her only when Hermione and/or I had gone to see her. He didn't talk much, barely ate, and worked at all his homework alone in silence. He was really struggling with what he had done. Even more than everyone else was, which was a lot, and probably to be expected. We reached the common room and Ron headed up to bed without saying a word. I sat down on a loveseat in the corner, and Hermione came and curled up in a ball next to me. She had been doing that a lot lately. She leaned her head against my shoulder and I thought back on the last four days.

After Ginny got hit with the bludger, everyone was down on the field in five minutes or less. Ron was in a state of shock, and turned away from Ginny to throw up in the grass. Hermione had somehow gotten down to the pitch and almost fell over before I caught her. She buried her face into my chest, but I wasn't focusing on her. I couldn't tear my eyes away from Ginny. Her head had a dent in it. It was crushed on one side, and blood was everywhere. Malfoy was covered in her blood, and he was gently rocking back and forth with Ginny in his lap. He was bent around her as if to protect her and his face was wet. The teachers were gathered around as someone ran off to retrieve Madam Pomfrey. It didn't take long for her to come running. She knelt by Malfoy and gently pried his fingers away from Ginny. She pulled Ginny gently off Malfoy's lap and laid her on the ground. I couldn't see what she was doing. She stood up a moment later and pulled out her wand. She said something and pointed it at Ginny, and suddenly Ginny was hovering over the ground, her hair hanging. Madam Pomfrey directed her wand so that Ginny's body would follow it. Malfoy tried to stand up, but fell back down. Pomfrey took a step back, and knelt by Malfoy. In a few seconds, Malfoy was floating too. She directed them both away from the pitch, and the game was shut down.

We weren't allowed to see Ginny until the next day. Malfoy had to stay in the hospital for a couple hours because he broke his ankle when he had crashed into the ground trying to save Ginny. Ginny herself had suffered no injuries from the crash, only from the bludger. Malfoy could have left the hospital wing that night, but opted to sleep there. The next day we all went to see Ginny, Hermione, me, Ron, and the rest of the quidditch team. Ginny was still asleep, and Malfoy was sitting in the chair beside her bed. When we came around, he stood up and pulled Hermione off to the side. They had a conversation and then he left. The quidditch team left a little while later, but Hermione stayed a little longer, so I stayed with her. Malfoy came back an hour later. He rounded the curtain and was a little surprised to see me.

"Hi Potter." He mumbled, then turned to Hermione, who was standing up. "Thanks Granger."

"No problem Malfoy. You ate something right?" Hermione answered.

"Yeah, I'm good. I just didn't want to leave her alone, you know? What if she wakes up?" He took Hermione's chair by the side of Ginny's bed. I was shocked that Malfoy was actually showing emotion.

"Yeah, I know how you feel." Hermione patted his shoulder and turned and walked away. We hadn't talked about it since.

As the days passed and Ginny still didn't wake, Hermione continued to curl up next me at every opportunity. I didn't mind. She only cried once. It was Monday night, possibly Tuesday morning. Someone came into the boy's dormitory in the middle of the night. I was half asleep, but when the footsteps stopped by my bed, I jerked awake. Hermione was standing there. Before I could say anything, she put her hand against my mouth and made a quiet shushing sound. I nodded and moved over in my bed. She curled up next to me and cried silently. She was gone by the time I woke up in the morning.

It was Wednesday when Ginny woke up, and now I just hope she'd be okay. I put my head against Hermione's feeling her breathing even out as she fell asleep. Before long I was asleep too.

Draco's POV

On Thursday, Granger walked into herbology and bypassed all her friends to come stand by me. I looked at her, very confused. I didn't say anything, just stared at her.

"She woke up." She said after a second. My eyes widened.

"When?"

"Yesterday. Pomfrey made us leave after ten minutes. She might be awake now, but I haven't had the time to check." She smiled sadly at me, then walked back to the gryffindors. The rest of the day past in a blur. I don't really remember the classes, or what I ate, or what I did most of the day. I went to the medical wing after dinner, but Pomfrey wouldn't let me in. So I went back to the common room and hatched a plan.

At midnight I left the common room again. I snuck around just like I used to to see Ginny. I headed quietly up the stairs and to the hospital wing. I open the door gently and slipped in silently, making sure to close the door just as quietly. I padded silently down to the far corner of the medical wing until I reached the end of Ginny's bed.

"Ginny?" I whispered as I tiptoed around the edge of her bed. Her response came in less than two seconds.

"Draco?" She whispered back. I nodded. The light from the moon that drifted through the windows was enough that I was sure she could see me. "What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night." She sat up roughly, barely moving one of her arms.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine." She leaned back against her mountain of pillows. I stood awkwardly next to her bed and shoved my hands in my pockets. She curled her legs up underneath her. "Do you want to sit down, or are you just going to stand there like an awkward worm."

"An awkward worm?" I asked.

"Yes."

"I can guarantee no one has called me that before."

"There's a first time for everything, and there is going to be a second if you don't sit." She gestured to the foot of the bed. I sat down gently.

"How long do you have to stay here?" I asked while I ran my hand through my hair.

"Just until Saturday. I should be able to leave now, but Pomfrey wants to keep me in for observation or something." Ginny rolled her eyes. I laughed.

"I think you'd do fine leaving right now." It was sarcasm, but Ginny played along.

"Oh really? Then please, help me up." She pulled the blankets off herself and held out her hand. I grabbed it and pulled her to her feet. Her nightgown flowed down around her as she hopped to her feet. She looked down and growled the growl that made me want to grab her and crush my lips against hers.

"What?" I managed to ask.

"Hermione and her goddamned nightgowns. How does she ever get anything done in this?" Ginny pulled her hand out of mine and grabbed the bottom of the dress, pulling it up and then letting it drop.

"I don't know. I think it's a perfect dress for a midnight escapade." I smirked at her.

"And where are we escapading to?" She smirked back. I smiled and grabbed her hand. She raised her eyebrows at me. I pulled her to the closest window and lifted her up to the windowsill. She gasped when I grabbed her waist. I climbed up after her.

"Here." I said once I stood beside her.

"And what is so special about here?" She asked, her voice soft.

"Well, it's the most special place in the hospital wing."

"And we can't leave the hospital wing?"

"Oh not a chance." My voice came out low and husky, even for me.

"Oh, why is that?" She leaned her back against the window and shivered.

"Because I don't want you to get hurt again." I put my hands on the window, one beside her head, one on the other side by her waist. "You are staying here until Pomfrey says you can leave."

"Oh come on! We could go anywhere!" She poked me in the chest.

"No. You could collapse, or fall down, and you have barely moved your arm since I got here. You are not leaving." I removed my hand from by her waist and grabbed her hand so she would stop poking me in the chest.

"Stop being such a worry wart." She sighed at me, but didn't remove her hand from mine.

"Impossible." I shook my head.

"Nothing's impossible." She shook her head at me.

"Well maybe next time I'll dance you all the way around the medical ward, and then we can get all the teachers to do the chicken dance." She laughed at my words, dimples coming out in her cheeks. She pushed my chest, so that I took a step back.

"That sounds very enjoyable." She said, and I couldn't tell if it was sarcasm. She took a step passed me and dropped away from me. I looked down, and she was standing nicely on the ground beneath the window. I climbed down quietly and carefully. Before I could say anything, a sound came from Madam Pomfrey's office. Ginny and I looked at each other, then ran our separate ways. I ran to the door, while she ran to her bed. I caught a fleeting glance of her pulling the covers around her as I shut the door.

Ron's POV

(sidenote: I am skipping Ron's POV because it wouldn't help in this chapter. I have spent a week trying to figure out how to make this work and I just can't I'm sorry. So I am going to skip it, and he will hopefully be back next chapter. Just know he is full of regret and emotions that are making him very sad. So yea. Have fun listening to Hermione's POV and sorry again.)

Hermione's POV

It was finally saturday today and Ginny could leave the hospital. I was gonna be the one to bring everything she needed to get ready and leave. That was mainly because I was one of her closest friends, and because Ron couldn't come near her without bawling. So I woke up a little early today, got ready, grabbed a backpack, and headed to Ginny's dorm. I went right to Ginny's bed and opened up her trunk. I grabbed some clean underwear, some soap and hair supplies, a hair brush, shoes, and was looking for a shirt when I found a secret stash of skirts. Ginny never wore skirts. Why did she even have these? I rocked back on my heels and thought for a minute. If there was ever a chance to make Ginny wear a skirt...

I showed up at the medical ward at eight. I might have shown up earlier, but I wanted Ginny to have some time to sleep. When I got to her bed, she was already awake and sitting up. I went to sit down in the chair beside her bed.

"What took you so long?" She asked as she grabbed the backpack and gave me a hug before heading off to the bathroom to have a shower.

"I thought I'd actually let you sleep." I called through the door.

"I just want to get out of here." She said as she opened the door and peeked around it. "I won't be long." She continued before shutting the door. I grabbed a book from my bag and started to read it. She was right, she didn't take long. Before long I heard a muffled yell from inside the room. She must have pulled out the clothes. I was smiling long before she stepped out of the door.

"A skirt Hermione? Really?" She said angrily as she dropped the backpack back by my feet.

"You look great." My smile grew as I looked at her. She was wearing the black flats I had put in the bag, as well as a skirt that was well above her knees. It was flowy and pleated and grey, and it stopped halfway down her thighs. Paired it was a white button up shirt that was tucked into the skirt. She had buttoned it up almost to the top, just leaving the collar and the button closest to it unbuttoned. Over that was a gryffindor robe that I found at the bottom of Ginny's trunk. It was more form fitting and showed of her figure. She had rolled the sleeves to the elbow, tucking her white shirt over that. Her hair was curled slightly from the dampness of it. She did look gorgeous. She might look better if she smiled though, because right she was frowning at me.

"My first day back from having brain damage and you put me in a skirt?" She asked. "'Cause that's not gonna look like I have brain damage at all."

"But you are gonna look absolutely amazing!" I said excitedly. "You have some legs and a figure. Show them off more often!" I grinned at her and she rolled her eyes at me.

"No wonder you were so late. You went digging in the bottom of my trunk for all of this junk." She did a slow twirl to show what junk she was talking about, and I can guarantee if a guy had been here, we would have had very different ideas of what junk that was.

"Okay, maybe I went digging a bit. But you've got some good stuff in there!" I replied as Ginny sat down on her hospital bed.

"Okay. When I woke up, I asked about how I got down and you didn't get to answer." She changed the topic abruptly. "Will you tell me the story?" She looks at me with eyes full of worry and curiosity and I just started talking.

"Well, you probably know you flew in front of a bludger to stop Malfoy from being hit." Ginny nodded along to my words. "Well, you got hit in the head obviously." I continued as Ginny rolled her eyes. "As you were falling, Malfoy grabbed you and slowed your fall. You both kind of plummeted. But it slowed it enough that neither of you were really hurt. Other than your bludger injuries and Malfoy's broken ankle anyways. I ran down there as fast as I could, but it took a bit, so I didn't see everything that had happened. But when I got down there, Malfoy was kind of cradling you in his lap and brushing your hair out of your eyes. He was pleading quietly for you to be okay. First name and everything. When Madam Pomfrey got there she sent you hovering to the medical ward, and Malfoy tried to come with you, but with his broken ankle he had to be floated out as well. There were no visitors allowed for that night or most of the morning, so the quidditch team and I came in the afternoon. Malfoy was still there beside your bed. He had stayed in the hospital that night and apparently sat beside your bed all morning. When I got there, he pulled me off to the side and asked if I could stay by your side until he got back. He was still wearing his quidditch robes and his hair still had blood in it, so I told him of course and to go have a shower and eat something. The quidditch team left a bit later, but Harry and I stayed. Malfoy came back later and had clean clothes and wet hair. He thanked me and took my chair. He said he just didn't want you to wake up alone. He only left the medical wing when I was here or when he had classes. Even then he skipped some of them. Madam Pomfrey had to physically kick him out once or twice. Once she just gave him a sleep potion and let him sleep here. Whenever any of the other slytherins would say anything bad about him he would punch them. Not even cast spell on them, just plain punch them." Ginny looked shocked. "It's been an interesting four days." I concluded.

"Malfoy saved my life?" Her voice was small and hesitant.

"Yes, I suppose he did." I answered.

"I guess I should go say thank you." Ginny jumped up from the bed and tossed me the mostly empty backpack. I shoved it into my book bag and started following Ginny out into the hallway.

"Fancy something to eat?" Ginny grinned cheekily at me.


End file.
